4 Privet Drive
4 Privet Drive is one of the main locations from the Harry Potter film series. It is the home of the Dursley family Uncle Vernon Dursley, Aunt Petunia Dursley, and Dudley Dursley. Their nephew Harry Potter has to live them for the summer holidays and when he is in primary school, because he has the only family left. Layout Physical appearance The home consisted of two floors. Inside, the house was, if anything, even neater than the perfectly presented gardens. Nymphadora Tonks in particular was moved to comment about how clean it was when she visited as part of the Advance Guard, although it has to be said that she is used to the walking mess that is her father, Ted Tonks. The downstairs consists of a living room, dining room, kitchen and hall. And, of course, the cupboard under the stairs (Harry's old room) which is full of spiders and just large enough for a young boy to sleep in. However, when Harry's first letter from Hogwarts arrived via Owl post it was addressed to "Mr Harry Potter, the cupboard under the stairs". It is believed that Vernon then became frightened by the idea that the magical world knew how poorly Harry was being treated and decided to move Harry to Dudley's spare room to keep himself from getting in to trouble. The upper floor was known to contain at least one toilet. The living room had a boarded-up fireplace, in front of which sat an electric fire, though it is unknown as to whether it was boarded-up before Vernon and Petunia moved in, or whether they boarded it up. The living room is also decorated in pastel colors: badges, salmon pinks, and peach. The kitchen was filled with spotless modern top-of-the-range appliances, including a wide-screen television, seems to be mostly pink and white in color, and was described as being surgically clean. The dining room had a sizeable table just large enough to hold thirty-seven birthday presents and a few plates of bacon and eggs. The layout upstairs used to consist of Vernon and Petunia's room, a spare room, Dudley's room, and Dudley's other room (in addition to a bathroom of course). Dudley's other room (the smallest of the bedrooms) was given to Harry by Vernon in 1991 — not an act of kindness but an attempt to prevent him receiving his acceptance letter to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This didn't go down well with Dudley of course, but he couldn't manage to make Vernon change his mind. The plan didn't work anyway, as Rubeus Hagrid eventually appeared to put the letter directly into Harry's hand, but Harry was allowed to keep the bedroom anyway. Inside his room, Harry had a bed, a wardrobe and a desk, and when he stayed there he kept his Hogwarts trunk there too. Hedwig lived in a cage set on the desk. The room also consisted of books, presumably Dudley's, which were never read and some of Dudley's old toys, many of them broken or beyond repair. The other main feature of the room was the cat-flap that Vernon installed in 1992 — this was part of his scheme to keep Harry locked in his room forever following the notorious Dobby-and-the-pudding incident. He also fitted bars to the windows at this time to stop Harry escaping — they only lasted for three days before Fred and George Weasley ripped them off with a flying car, but the cat-flap stayed for years. Presumably it was removed after Voldemort's defeat and the end of the Second War, when the Dursleys could safely return to their house without risk of attack. At this point, finally, they would also have been free of Harry forever, and it's likely that nothing in the world could make Vernon happier. The back garden was of moderate, if not large, size but was extremely neat; the emerald-green grass was pristine and short. A large tree grew near the tidily-trimmed green hedge, and on certain summer days the leaves would blow gently across the ground. Roses grew in small plots on either side of the back door, and a small potted plant hung from a lantern by said entry. A small wooden shed stood near the tree, right against the hedge, and was home to a rather large grey spider. The Dursleys also had a moderately proportioned bench. There also seemed to be a conservatory and a greenhouse located in the back garden, the latter of which Dudley Dursley threw his pet tortoise through. In the front garden, the family grew Agapanthi and pansies. Appearances Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone The house was first seen at nighttime where Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall are waiting outside the property when Rubeus Hagrid arrived with the infant Harry Potter who was recovered from the wreckage in Potter's Cottage after Voldemort murdered his parents and failed to kill their infant son. Harry Potter lived in the house for 10 years under the abuse of his only family, The Dursleys, forcing him to be their servant. Until later on in the summer holidays, several owls began sending in letters to Harry, but Vernon intercepts and discards them. Eventually, the Dursleys, as well as Harry, move out due to thousands of letters exploded in the house and lived on a remote island. After Hagrid scared off the Dursleys and collected Harry to gather his supplies and head to Hogwarts, the Dursleys moved back into their residential home in the same street. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter returns to the house for his summer holidays, now living in Dudley's old bedroom, unable to use magic outside of school, and didn't receive replies from his friends. While the Dursleys (except for Harry) are having a party with Vernon's client Mr. Mason and his wife Mrs. Mason, Dobby arrives in Harry's bedroom, and warns him not to return to Hogwarts, before revealing that he intercepted the replies from his friends. Harry angrily chases Dobby downstairs who charms the cake on Mrs. Mason, shifting the blame on Harry, where Vernon ended up imprisoning Harry in his bedroom by literally placing bars over his window. Later that night, Ron, and his brothers Fred and George Weasley arrive in the flying Ford Anglia to rescue Harry, and Hedwig from his prison. But, Vernon and Petunia wake up due to the Ford Anglia ripping off the bars from Harry's window, and Vernon attempts to stop Harry from escaping, but fails, causing him to fall into the garden shrubbery. Harry then travels with Ron to the Burrow where he will spend the remainder of his holidays there. Category:Homes Category:Residences